lol he is a classic case of rap's main gripe with age and its unhealthy fixation with youth.

I kind of feel like thats not a rap thing, but a rich ppl thing...Most rappers know when to hang it up, even Snoop found a new niche.

Jay got lazy, i'll say that. But he's a man that has made it. I feel like that was his only goal. Some people live, breathe, and embody the struggle, others do what they gotta do till they make it out and they dont look back. Is it fcked up? On some level, yes. As big a star as he's become he does have a platform to create an awareness about crime and poverty and other social issues (if that makes sense). But the real question here is, is it his responsibility as an entertainer? I feel like us regular folk sometimes hold celebrities to standards we dont even hold ourselves to....

exactly and this is what annoys me about ppl....it's not written in stone that celebs have to use their influence for what we deem necessary...it's their life...thats where ppl go wrong....it's like we forget our own power...who cares what jay's doing, you don't like barneys? You and your friends boycott it, start a petition, do your own thing

The trayvon showed me that real ppl can effect change themselves....we did it on our own...the celebs and al sharpton's came later

maybe niche wasnt the right word a "hobby" not especially reflective of youth culture

So the youth dem naah meds no reg.gae? Here we do. But I kno what you're saying.

Snoop has an entire nation and the rastafari movement gunning for his disrespectful pretentious and whack ass. Make that focker ever win that Grammy

Raps distant cousin or forebear (depending on who you ask) dancehall the elder deejays just said eff the older crowds snd cater almost exclusively to the youth highschool aged. Its depressing. Dudes same age bracket as jay dressing acting and deejaying like theyre twenty two. Smoke weed buss guns eff girls the occasional ghetto youths are the greatest rinse and rass repeat. I blame the incarcerated one and others too. He dumbed it down so badly and did do well the other copycats did the same. His current work gets more "forward" cause the youth never knew when he was great.

Yall lucky jay tries somewhat cause if I hear one more girls wine up skin out tune im gonna scream

Eta the slackness is at an all time high or low lol. Honestly! Just saying the worst thing imaginable just for the shock value another kartel schtick. And its not cause im older cause shabba and them were slack but these cats just lame and unimaginative. Please free Buju Banton

I was just about to write about rap and age but my computer froze. Don't feel like re-writing that titangraph but what I was going to say was nearly all other genres support their aging artist. You see rockers, jazz musicians, country singers, etc, releasing critically and commercially acclaimed music in their 50s, 60s, 70s. Johnny Cash was releasing popular music right up to his death at age 71.

Rap is like a teenager compared to most genres, so the sample size of older rap stars is small. But I think it's safe to say that the first golden age rappers faded into obscurity as the genre all but abandoned them, even as they released music...cats like Kool G Rap, Rakim, De La Soul, KRS.

Now we're getting to the second golden age rappers, like Nas, Common, Jay, Eminem. It'll be interesting to see how they are received as they get into their 50s, 60's. They might quit rapping altogether, because rappers aren't encouraged to keep rapping into late age...it's perceived that rap is a young mans game. So rappers might get ridiculed by fans who are annoyed that they are still rapping. It isn't like that with other genres.

Since rap is so lyic-focused, and thoughts get expressed in much more detail than other genres of music, I think rappers like Jay also run the risk of running out of things to say. He's like 12 albums deep, and even in 2003 he was saying 'what more can I say?'...

I think that may be one of the things Afro was getting at. Jay, and Nas, and Common, and the aging rappers are in a position to change the perception of older rap stars. They have a chance to create a lane for hip hop over the next decades that celebrates older age, maturity, growth, and the separation from the young cats. And since Jay is the oldest and most popular, his platform is greater than all. He isn't doing much with that platform though...except reinforcing that rap is a young mans game. That's disappointing, especially since he is always comparing himself to the Beatles...a comparison that falls flat when you consider the growth of those members vs the arguable regression/stagnation of Jay.

I was just about to write about rap and age but my computer froze. Don't feel like re-writing that titangraph but what I was going to say was nearly all other genres support their aging artist. You see rockers, jazz musicians, country singers, etc, releasing critically and commercially acclaimed music in their 50s, 60s, 70s. Johnny Cash was releasing popular music right up to his death at age 71.

Rap is like a teenager compared to most genres, so the sample size of older rap stars is small. But I think it's safe to say that the first golden age rappers faded into obscurity as the genre all but abandoned them, even as they released music...cats like Kool G Rap, Rakim, De La Soul, KRS.

Now we're getting to the second golden age rappers, like Nas, Common, Jay, Eminem. It'll be interesting to see how they are received as they get into their 50s, 60's. They might quit rapping altogether, because rappers aren't encouraged to keep rapping into late age...it's perceived that rap is a young mans game. So rappers might get ridiculed by fans who are annoyed that they are still rapping. It isn't like that with other genres.

Since rap is so lyic-focused, and thoughts get expressed in much more detail than other genres of music, I think rappers like Jay also run the risk of running out of things to say. He's like 12 albums deep, and even in 2003 he was saying 'what more can I say?'...

I think that may be one of the things Afro was getting at. Jay, and Nas, and Common, and the aging rappers are in a position to change the perception of older rap stars. They have a chance to create a lane for hip hop over the next decades that celebrates older age, maturity, growth, and the separation from the young cats. And since Jay is the oldest and most popular, his platform is greater than all. He isn't doing much with that platform though...except reinforcing that rap is a young mans game. That's disappointing, especially since he is always comparing himself to the Beatles...a comparison that falls flat when you consider the growth of those members vs the arguable regression/stagnation of Jay.

Those who are saying to buy his old albums, I think y'all are missing the point.

Talking about Hermes and Margiela isn't progress. It's the same hood mentality from Reasonable Doubt/Hard Knock Life...just on a different scale.

It's like okayyyy Jay, we get it, you're on an island, on a yacht, sipping something expensive, before you got rich, you sold drugs and lived in the pj's...your uncle said you weren't gonna amount to anything....we believe you...you don't need more people, you've made it clear.

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